Introduction

*Heads Up! I'm putting things in Spoilers to cut down on the over whelming size and information of this guide for faster navigation and to not barrage you with information so you can easier navigate to what you want to read*

Hey Guys, I'm Envy and welcome to the guide, i'm new at building guides, so bare with me still getting used to all the lil tricks of this, and if you have any suggestions or ideas please post em, I'm open to discuss.

When I heard about Azir I was very eager to make this guide being that I love playing champs like Orianna Zed and Vel'Koz that can devastate champions from range and completely change the outcome of team fight through tactical plays and placements. Yet I also like lane bully champs like Yorick and Swain that dominate players through zoning enemy champs and snow ball hard through itemization, this is why I developed the guide as I did with these champion play philosophies in mind.

I've been playing him pretty non-stop recently, trying new tricks and tactics, and taking various item suggestions for builds, using them and finding out how they can work or why they completely don't fit his kit, play style, or gold efficiency (most important since he is very item reliant). While I may not know everything (yet) about Azir, I do my best to present the most up-to-date, informed build on everything Azir from masteries, runes, play styles, roles, and items.

Also I have created multiple guides for multiple roles and situations, each of which has its own play style for this diverse utility kit. But my main focus will be on my build of preference, if you guys would like a more details of one of the other builds than what I have already provided in this guide, please let me know in the discussion page and I'll get right to it.

Finally I would like to thank those in my discussion page for giving me your suggestions so I can help improve this guide and better further the knowledge of Azir for other players. One such player I would like to thank especially is sphaxwinny since he was very helpful in suggesting an alternative item for that 10%CDR I needed for finished build (Twin Shadows) and his guide suggesting the Elixir of Brilliance which gave my guide the ability to accomplish 30% CDR with 1 completed item. Thank you for your help and contribution and I appreciate your efforts.

Pros / Cons

Pros

+ Has a great zoning kit with his ranged Q and soldier AA[/color]
+ His soldiers proc Magic bonuses like Spell Vamp, Rylai's Crystal Scepter slow, and Liandry's Torment burn passive.
+With the "Sand Tyrant" build, you can accomplish full build before 30 minutes if all is going smoothly.
+ Azir Raw AA is ranged, but soldier AA is Melee and proc's the 2% damage from Double-Edged Sword when using soldiers.
+ Has "E" as a gap closer that is also an escape, and if connecting with an enemy champion, gives you a shield based on Health.
+ His Ult can block most escapes excluding unstoppable abilities (vi and Malph ults) or Flash, everything else is blocked. Also gives team movement speed and the ability to pass through freely while denying enemy access and is great to cause that 1-2 AA of hesitation before the enemy realizes whats going on.
+ Ult can also be used to force fights as an initiation for a "stalemate" comp, but putting soldier behind enemy team, "E" On that soldier, and than push enemy team with Ult into your team, which is something I show at the end of the guide in my "Tips and Tricks"
+ Fairly Mana efficient spells making MP regeneration easy, and decent base mana pool.
+ If built right, by late game his sustained damage can destroy squishy champs within 2-3 hits.
+ Can use Defensive & Utility Masteries very well, and some Offensive Masteries.

Cons

+Soldiers do not proc On-Hit Effects like Lich Bane, Iceborn Gauntlet, Arcane Blade , Spell Weaving , Blade Weaving
+ Azir Raw AA is ranged, but soldier AA is Melee so with Bandit utility mastery soldier AA and "Q" proc the Melee +15G on Kills and ***its, but can only proc the Ranged +3G when using Azir's Raw AA; meaning you can't get +3G on Soldier AA while using Bandit
+His "W > Q > E" Gap Closer/Escape has a delay between your "W" deploy, a delay of "Q" moving soldier into position, and a delay in "E" travel time, even if using smart cast, you really close only a small amount of distance on a fleeing champion (not taking into consideration of any abilities, items, or quints the enemy may have to make this even worse).
+He is squishy, has high health for a support (which is fairly low) but not so much top and mid lane.
+Is very weak against gap closers (and really any kind of movement C.C. for that matter) since his "E" early game is a 1 shot thing, and even later isn't something you can depend on for constant disengage. Which also leads to him not having C.C. disengage.
+Unlike Orianna or Syndra, Azir has to stop to AA which is more like an ADC's means of kiting rather than a more free flowing champ like Syndra and Orianna, You need your range from enemy because of this.
+Very Item reliant, and leads to him having a pretty weak early game, and is why I like to go Utility Tree, to get those items faster.
+Really can't use much of the Offensive mastery traits that can really amplify damage, making Offensive Tree fairly weak on Azir.

Interesting Azir Things

* For starters Azir one of the few champions (outside of form changing champions) that is melee and ranged damage. The reason why this is important is because if you use masteries like Bandit azir's base AA will proc the ranged portion of this mastery and give the +3 gold, however if you attack with soldiers it will not proc the +3 gold. Yet when you kill a champion using "Q" or soldier AA, you will receive the +15 gold. You can test this yourself by looking at your icons and noticing that when you Azir base AA it procs, and if you use soldiers it does not until you kill that champion where it will finally proc and go into cool down. Also this DOES NOT mean you can build on hit items for your soldiers, because they are melee, because it still does not work nor apply which I have tested by building a Tiamat to see if it would activate on my soldier AA; which it did not.

* Going off of the above fact, its safe to say that Azir using Double-Edged Sword will deal 1.5% damage and receive 1.5%, BUT! If you use soldiers he will deal 2%, and through form changing champions like Nidalee, I can ASSUME that you will be receiving 1% damage when you attack with soldiers, however even if I'm wrong its a .5% damage difference, and that 2% is still worth while and arguably better for those that want more damage rather than Expose Weakness but if you like safer damage increase that effects a team comp than you can still stick with Expose Weakness

* Azir's soldier AA does not proc On-Hit effects of items (most know this but some people tend to post things about lichbane and triforce so I'm here to dispel the insanity on Azir!) and this also means that mastery traits like Butcher , Feast, Spell Weaving , Blade Weaving and Arcane Blade do not work on Azir's soldiers, so don't put them in builds. Normally I would of put 1 into Butcher at least to unlock Devastating Strikes , but now that I've confirmed that Double-Edged Sword deals 2% damage, there is really no point into putting a point into this since you'll rarely farm minions (outside of very early game and even if then) with Azir AA.

The Sand Tyrant: Why We Subjugate!

The reason you build the Sand Tyrant build is to take advantage of Azir's CDR passive that gives you 1.5% AS for every 1% CDR. That being the main focus of the build, is to itemize, which is why you build Utility Page to speed up the itemizing process and give Azir his great late game presence, faster. Azir is very item dependent or his damage, but the best part is that you don't really need alot of items to make him useful, and the more you purchase the more you will notice his strength greatly grow. Movement speed is another importance of this kit very important which with Utility Tree Fleet of Foot and Twin Shadows movement % stat, you will be flying towards your enemy which is greatly helpful in keeping your soldier positioning on top of them and making them unable to escape the might of the tyrant.

The next reason you build this is because you want to harness the utility of the kit but also of the items that will aid the kit. Twin Shadows and Rylai's Crystal Scepter are great examples of aiding your kit by slowing the enemy and dealing that sustained damage on them. Rylai's Crystal Scepter you want for that HP tankyness and buff to "E" Shield; to go with the CDR and the passive slow. Twin Shadows you want for caping out 40% CDR, the AP for damage, and the active which can slow up to 2 targets that are fleeing from you.

One of my favorite items which is also aided by our mastery choice in Expanded Mind is the Seraph's Embrace this item is fantastic on Azir since it goes well with his "E" shield giving you double shields and is on a 10% less CDR due to out mastery choices. Also you will recieve +64 bonus AP from Mana pool + the base +60 AP from the item which gives you 124AP. Now a death cap will give you 120AP and 30%AP, so really you're getting a slightly higher base AP deathcap and substituting the 30% AP for a 20% Mana shield for 600G less! This build does not waste a single stat, makes him itemize faster, and gives him over all more utility to go with his already utility centric kit, making him great for laning, but absolutely deadly in team fights.

Some numbers for what this kit can provide over all:

Spoiler: Click to view

Runes of a Tyrant

Runes

Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist9

Greater Seal of Scaling Health9

Greater Mark of Magic Penetration9

Greater Quintessence of Ability Power3

These should be fairly obvious if you've played an AP Mid, but here is for more in depth of why you pick these for Azir Mid:

Spoiler: Click to view

Greater Quintessence of Ability Power

The reason for this is obvious, you want soldier's to deal damage so your opponent doesn't just sit there and take the soldier poke with out at least gritting their teeth.

Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist

You'll want this because chances are you're opponent is an AP mid, and this will greatly help you take a few more hits early game but also scales up later to be beneficial, especially given the sacrifice of 0 in defense mastery for itemization. Some trade these for early game CDR, but these runes are so key that I don't feel its smart to sacrifice these.

Greater Mark of Magic Penetration

You want this because it will give you that early game nudge in champion pokes, it will synergize greatly with Sorcerer's Shoes and Void Staff. AP stacking does appear to have a cap in terms of over all soldier damage, and Magic Pen is what changes the game from 5-6 hits to kill a squishy to 2-3.

Greater Seal of Scaling Health

I now go full Great Seal of Scaling Health, I like it more this way and it gives you a good chunk of HP with out needing items, and that increases your Shield from E, since it is based on HP. This helps Azir not be so squishy.

The Sand Tyrant: Masteries and Why

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Putting my In-depth Mastery Descriptions in Spoilers so if you want to read it more check it out, but I'm leaving open the straight forward "TL;DR" version of this that sums up things but doesn't go into the great detail of why and relies on the viewer to know why I picked what I did.

TL;DR (Sums Up all of the sub topics here)

1. Azir doesn't benefit from Butcher , Arcane Blade , Blade Weaving , Spell Weaving because he doesn't basic attack he uses soldiers to attack, So don't do it!
2. Azir benefits from Sorcery in that it makes 10% CDR with Intelligence with out rune sacrificing. Double-Edged Sword for that 2% soldier damage (since they count as melee damage that is magical). Arcane Mastery and Mental Force you need that early game Flat AP to be a presence in lane or the enemy laner will laugh at your soldier's gentle caress. Executioner because it helps get the job done when it comes to killing a champ below 35% which can often be a struggle to kill if no points are put into this ability.
3. Azir DOES NOT BENEFIT from these Utility Tree Masteries Scavenger and Inspiration just don't do it, you are in a solo lane, you don't need it. Bandit and the reason for this as I mentioned in the "Interesting Azir Things" is that Azir is ranged but his Soldiers are Melee, this means you would have to use Azir's raw AA to get the +3 gold, but with soldiers you have to fulfill the melee terms of the mastery and kill or assist for +15 gold, which makes this a pretty weak mastery when you can better alocate the point and not have to put a point into Wealth for that 1 extra pot at start. Yet to be clear Frost Queen's Claim Gold passive does work on soldier AA, which is why it is in my support items!
4. One of the starting benefits from the Utility tree on azir is Greed , because Azir is an item dependent champ and needs that extra gold love to move his early game along into items faster, after all you're a Tyrant, and you want that lane taxation from those mid lane peasants! The key mastery would be Intelligence for that 5% CDR and 10% Item CDR, possibly the best part of Utility Tree. Than Expanded Mind , Strength of Spirit , and Meditation are all key traits for building to that Seraph's Embrace to make a sweet MP Trifecta of regen, damage and bonus MP. Fleet of Foot keeping him a literal step ahead of the enemy and castable range of soldiers, you will also gain Runic Affinity for 20% more Blue Buff Duration (lolAzirRedBuff), and also Culinary Master to give you a more comfortable lane with those biscuits.

In Depth Masteries Description!

Spoiler: Click to view

The "No" of the Offense Tree

So the reason why I put only 11 points into the offense tree is because outside of the basic AP and CDR, the offense tree really doesn't benefit Azir as it does other champs. "WHAT!? Envy you Noob! All Damage Dealers benefit from Offense Tree!" well before we pick up the torches this is why: You don't benefit from Butcher , Arcane Blade , Blade Weaving , Spell Weaving because these all rely on the idea that you are going to hit them with Azir's AA and not soldier's AA which is rarely ever going to happen or you're playing him wrong. Outside of killing minions, hitting structures, accidentally hitting champs that are out of soldier AA but not Azir AA, and early game last hitting minions; you don't use your actual AA. This is why you won't be able to really use any of these mastery skills in a consistent and effective way to warrant points being put in these skills and in the end would be a waste.

Why does Azir benefit so much from Utility?

I'll gladly break this down, for starts 3 points into Fleet of Foot gives you 1.5% movement speed, not game breaking, but will help you keep in range of your enemy to position your soldiers and deal damage (this will also pay off with Rylai's Crystal Scepter and Twin Shadows. 3 points into Meditation for your early game sustain (ya he's not MP hungry but when your'e making plays you will be surprised where it all goes in the end). 1 point into Strength of Spirit never thought I would use this mastery point in any build, but it is helpful in synergy with Seraph's Embrace. Alchemist obvious... don't need to explain as well as Culinary Master .

Point into Runic Affinity as well to unlock more tree skills and also for that 20% longer blue buff. 3 Points into Greed this is great for Azir since he is an itemized champion and can use any gold love. 3 points of Expanded Mind , this goes great with Strength of Spirit and makes cohesive trifecta of benefits with Seraph's Embrace of bonus health regen, bonus mana, bonus ap based on mana all good things. Now for one of the most key and beneficial masteries outside of Greed , Fleet of Foot, Expanded Mind and Meditation ; and that is of course Intelligence . This sweet trait gets all 3 points and is well deserved with its 5% CDR (which if you combined this with the 5% CDR we got from Sorcery you just got 10% CDR (And with Elixir of Brilliance you can achieve 20% CDR with no items or 30% CDR with just 1 item completed. Then if that wasn't bangin enough, Riot threw in a 10% Activated Item CDR which will make the shield active from Seraph's Embrace and slow active from Twin Shadows up just that much earlier.

Now since I covered what not to put points in the Offense Tree, here are somethings that actually do work great for Azir in the Offense Tree. Now I have recently changed my stance on Expose Weakness over Double-Edged Sword and now I use Double Edged Sword the reason is as I explained in the above, 4 points in Sorcery no brainer 5% CDR combined with Intelligence gives you 10% CDR and a sweet Attack Speed Bonus to Soldiers before items and with out nerfing vital runes for CDR. Mental Force and Arcane Mastery are straight forward, they give AP, we like AP, we get AP k? Finally Executioner put 2/3 points in it, I would love to put 3 points in it but there isn't a single point to spare for maxing this which is a sign that the masteries are being used effective rather than wasteful.

The Sand Titan & When To Use It!

So when I created this build, I took it a lot from when I played Singed with the Rod of Ages + Seraph's Embrace, and at first it was something I thought would be interesting but who would know how truly effective it would be, but after having a test run with it in a random ARAM (where I was lucky enough to get him to roll and not have a dodger or someone wanting to swap). I got a great field test with the kit and now I feel it should be posted and shared as an equivalent build to the Sand Tyrant Build, but with a different approach in that you are not a back line poker. But more of a AP Bruiser with this getting in the thick of it and disrupting positioning of the enemy for your team's tactical play.

Screen Caps of the stats and how the game went:

Spoiler: Click to view

The Sand Titan:

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Top:
The Reason I like this build when I'm not using the Sand Tyrant, is because if you have a squishy comp, you can easily make this champ an effective Bruiser, and amazing shields keep you from being even more tanky than the obvious HP boosts. This build is fantastic for Top Lane, Great if you want a safe (but slow) ride in mid with more focus on sustain and damage mitigation than damage output (but don't think this means you don't do damage, cuz yes you definitely do). This game is particularly good for game modes like ARAM where often you'll have grouped up teams all rushing you at once, and the item flow is fast enough to where you don't really need the perks of the Utility tree to itemize fast.

More in depth of why the masteries for The Sand Titan:

Spoiler: Click to view

So with the Sand Titan Build, the defense tree will be the main focus, again mostly because for what points you have to get to the masteries like Devastating Strikes and Havoc you will waste for a top lane champ and that Azir really doesn't utilize most of the Offense Tree (which is why you only get CDR, AP, and Executioner to help secure kills, and Double-Edged Sword for 2% soldier melee damage). The Defense tree however is very beneficial in keeping him tanky and in the lane, Block , Enchanted Armor , Unyielding , and Juggernaut are no brainer obvious tanky masteries, and I won't go into these since they are standard. 2 into Hardiness since chances are you'll be against a AD top, and 1 into Resistance because it will help against AP. Swiftness will help keep you from getting tied down too much, which is one of the things that will get you killed as Azir (c.c., not our friend. Perseverance , Second Wind are great for keeping your health up, increasing your sustain, and keeping you in lane, just nothing wrong with that.

This build allows you to get in the heart of engagements, and tank good chunks of damage for your team or yourself to take down carries, but also allows you to safely utilize your Ulti before the enemy team even knows what hit them. Rather than a poky mage build, this build focuses on making the enemy engage you and try to take you down while you shield yourself through "E" and Seraph's Embrace and let your soldiers poke them down. Setting up your soldiers behind the enemy will allow you to E dash knock them up if they try to escape and again buff you with shield. I like this build for things like ARAM because I know I'll be taking on multiple targets at once, and a squishy build will have its trade offs in effectiveness (if the comp is tanky, go mage; if the comp is squishy, go tanky.

Make it clear now
These are builds that if I were in the instance of using Azir in these particular play styles it would be the way I would play them, but is not the way I actually use Azir. For those that are going to say "But Envy you are so Noob! Azir is a Mid ONRY! and will never top/jung/supp" hey man I'm not saying you're wrong or that you should play any of these roles with Azir, I'm just saying if you WERE to play those roles, these are the ways I believe you should do it. So, I won't spend long on the Alternativ Mage, Vamp, Support, or Jungle page because if you read the main mastery page you'll know why I picked what I picked and why I ignored what I did. I'll just go over things that contradict what I said earlier and why I picked them in this niche instance, and differences between things thats all. The full Description of these masteries will be put in spoilers to conserve room, so feel free to click on them if you want to know more.

Blood and Sand

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Spoiler: Click to view

Vamp:
So this was basically the build I started out with on Azir, but since I feel he could be more efficient by breaking up my original build into this build and my new Tyrant build, I feel I can give a better experience and alternative to this champ. this build is basically in step with my former build except it removes Greed and replaces it with Runic Affinity and Culinary Master now these are nice and all giving you extended blue buff and biscuits for a safer lane, but the main reason for removing Greed was so that you could gain full points in Expanded Mind and buff that Strength of Spirit and Seraph's Embrace. Outside of those minor adjsutments the build is basically step for step what it was when I first started.

The Might of the Sands:

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Spoiler: Click to view

Mage:
The only reason why Butcher made the cut is because its the only thing that you somewhat use that will give you the ability to put a point into Havoc and I know "But you could put it into Arcane Blade for those ap damages!"... Ya ya guy, I already have to do that passive for Nashor's and at least that hurts structures, Arcane Blade would be way under used to be worth a point, at least Butcher I use in early game against minions for farm. Point is Butcher gets a reluctant point because I like Havoc damage and Arcane Blade is still useless on Azir. The same goes for the point in Dangerous Game its only there so I can get to the magic pen of Devastating Strikes and the damage bonus of Havoc outside of those two masteries, Dangerous Game is fairly pointless and useless, ya its great if you get a kill when you're low in health, but if you're high it really does nothing of significance. Personally I feel the offense tree is the least beneficial to Azir in that the only thing he benefits from is the AP, CDR, Executioner , Devastating Strikes , and Havoc . And is why I generally feel a straight mage build on Azir is rather weak and why I focus more on "The Sand Tyrant" Build. But I put this up because its not a bad build, just not my preference.

The Guardian of the Sands:

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Spoiler: Click to view

Support:
Pretty much the same except you don't put points into Executioner and instead of Double-Edged Sword you will put it into Expose Weakness since its more about your ally getting kills than you, put a point into Scout instead of Meditation since wards matter more. Max Expanded Mind because more MP means less you'll need to rely on MP regenerative items. Scavenger yes because now you're sharing lane and Azir loves gold for items, but still no to Inspiration since really that implies that you are bad and your carry is pretty ahead of you; if you are equal or better than your carry Inspiration is useless.

The Sandstorm in the Jungle

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Spoiler: Click to view

Jungle:
An offensive Jungler, better be a carry jungler, which Azir is not. You are not a burst champion, so what you're better off going with is the typical tanky/utility champ. The basic Offense masteries of CDR and AP (since again I can't say this enough, the rest of the tree really doesn't do much for you as Azir). Than we get into the Defense tree which is very similar to the top build, except you replace Enchanted Armor for Tough Skin . THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT! Your soldiers DO NOT TANK jungle creeps, so you'll need something to keep you safe in those early levels which is Jungle Azir's weakest point in the game and makes him highly easy to counter. A point into Swiftness is always good because a slow jungler is a dead one, you don't want to get slowed entering a gank and be totally wrecked. Finally the difference between this and top is 4 points into Legendary Guardian instead of Executioner this is important since you are more utility in jungle for team fights, but also for bot lane ganks to get that extra defense. Also for what I have just mentioned and like the support build you will put a point into Expose Weakness instead of Double-Edged Sword because its about the team with Jungler not yourself and AGAIN YOU ARE NOT A CARRY JUNGLER (sorry wanna-be Yi/Reng-o Junglers, but homie don't burst damage on Azir you sustain!), YOU ARE A UTILITY SUPPORT JUNGLER!

Why you Build a 40% CDR Build with Nashor's, and not with out it!

The Nashor's Tooth and You!

For those that want the "Gist" and not read everything I wrote here is the TL;DR of it:

1. Nashor's Tooth AS increases your point animation speed, which increases your Soldier AA initiation animation making it actually faster than any other 40% CDR build.
2. Nashor's Tooth increases your AS making you a pretty nasty split pusher (but the passive does not aid in split pushing) and with your W to cast on Towers (W does not work on Inhibs though which I find odd and I'm assuming is a current bug since his release and even following his quick fix patch).

For those willing to read what I say:

Spoiler: Click to view

I'll tell you exactly why you build Nashor's as a key item, and it will make sense when I describe it and I won't use crazy numbers and calculations. This is why: What happens before a soldier does his AA? He typically winds back and thrusts forward yes, but also, your character points. Now while your soldiers are NOT AT ALL effected by your AS, the motion in which your character points IS. So if you ever stopped to look at your soldiers you would notice that when you point, there is a very slight time delay in which your soldier AA's, its not some instantaneous event as some would like to believe when the build a Morello.

So if you test this and build a 40% CDR build with Nashor's and a 40% CDR with out, you will notice the obvious difference in your character pointing faster thus making your soldier's AA initiate faster making it over all a faster AA for YOUR SOLDIER AND YOU as 1 UNIT.

Now lets say you don't like the idea of hitting an enemy champion faster with your AA (why you would want that on a sustain damage champ such as Azir and is by no means a burst champion, I simply don't know but devil's advocate here) And you say "Envy! Outside of that you still don't benefit from the AS!" Well, the other reason why this makes him so beast, is because he can split push and hard with it. And since you can't use soldier's to AA down towers, you get a 50% increase to your AS making you a staff wipping fiend! On top of that you can cast W nukes on tower to burn it down. This makes you a champ that an enemy team doesn't want to leave alone on a turret thats for sure.

Important: Starting and Transition Items

Here is the starting items I go with and why they are so important for Azir and this build:

Spoiler: Click to view

Doran's Ring

Always start with this, its got MP, its got damage, health and a nice early game passive, over all good item for Azir. And a no brainer to go with 2 health pots.

Elixir of Brilliance

This item is amazing and should be utilized every build of every game! With my Sand Tyrant Build you can accomplish 20% CDR in such a fast time given that this item is fairly cheap (can get by first back) and you already have starting mastery CDR of 10%! If you go with any other build, this item will still give you 15% CDR which is fantastic buff for so early in the game and with the AP it gives, this is an ABSOLUTE MUST HAVE! There is no reason you should not have this consumeable in your Inventory unless you've already capped out your CDR, than this item lacks a bit of use on Azir.

Tear of the Goddess

make this early to start those 750 Mana stacks to get Seraph's Embrace, but do not complete this item to Archangel's Staff until you are very close or have achieved 750 mana Stacks for it to transform into a Seraph's Embrace, many other important items need to be completed, and this item really benefits you most when its finished rather than sitting on Archangel's Staff

Giant's Belt

Great HP item to give you some tankyness, boost your 'E' shield, and make you harder to kill so your spell vamp sustain can keep you alive longer, always get this item after you have completed 40% CDR and build it into a Rylai's Crystal Scepter.

Tools of a Tyrant

This is a listing of all of the items I feel are key to this build, and why they are, I will also be listing at the end items that are great for Azir, but do not fit this build and why:

Spoiler: Click to view

Sorcerer's Shoes (Alacrity)

This is usually the 4TH ITEM I build, but can be the 2nd or 3rd depending on when you want those boots. Great for Magic Pen since you don't want to stack just AP, Alacrity will give you the move speed to keep a step ahead of enemy and position those soldiers to wreck your enemy. This also will synergize amazingly with our over all AP build at the end, and in particular the Void Staff Magic Pen. A misconception is that if you stack JUST AP you'll do huge damage due to Soldier scaling, but Riot did not design this champ to be an AP burst champ rather a sustain damage champ. This is why if you stack a bunch of AP you'll notice that after a while it really doesn't increase over all damage performance, and is why Sorc. Boots + Void Staff make that AP damage hurt and can basically 2-3 shot a squishy. This is definitely Core.

Twin Shadows

This is the 1ST ITEM in my arsenal and a very underrated one when people discuss CDR items, vary rarely was this one mentioned, which is a shame considering that it gives an active slow (great for early game when ganking, or slowing to secure kills), a sweet 80 AP (the only other item to give this high of AP and offer CDR is the Will of the Ancients which I like more for a vamp build, the ever costly Deathfire Grasp, or the Morellonomicon and either you can get that un-needed mana regen after we already have a Seraph's Embrace for that reason, or you can get an active slow with Twin Shadows that is up 10% earlier due to our masteries, I'll take the slow thank you), and! Most importantly 10% CDR which if you're keeping up with that math 20% from Nashor's Tooth + 10% from Masteries + 10% from Twin Shadows you just hit cap at 40% CDR. Grats.

Void Staff

This is always my 2ND ITEM to complete. This is an absolute core instrument of death, while most builds and people for that matter will suggest that it "isn't that great," this item takes your AP and magnifies it immensely and takes you from 5-6 hits to kill to 2-3. AP stacking only does not benefit soldier damage because as I mentioned earlier it will fall off with out the proper amount of Magic Pen, and with runes, sorc. boots, and void staff, you got all the pen you need to be a 1 man army of death. Not to mention this does also add sweet amount of AP damage as well. I prefer this over the Abyssal Mask namely because you will be mostly attacking and casting from range and reluctantly going in, so really the magic pen from that item isn't used as much as Void Staff, and the AP isn't as good either as this item, only trade off is the M.R. but again you shouldn't be close enough to really get hit.

Nashor's Tooth

I now build Nashor's as my 3RD ITEM this is because you want a bit more AP for damage early on so your mid-game doesn't stall-out, it is core for just about every build (which doesn't much apply to Support Azir). Right off the top you get a sweet 50% Attack Speed, 20% CDR (which with the mastery set up at 10% already this 1 item just gave you 30% CDR and a sweet Attack Speed Bonus!); it has 60AP, which Azir loves his AP for making those soldier pokes really hurt. And while the passive doesn't help with champion damagemuch since you primarily use Soldier AA, the bare stats are great for Azir and his AS make him a leathal split pusher with "W" Nuke. For why Nashor's Tooth passive and AS bonus is good on Azir, please read the topic I posted specifically describing its benefits and why it is core (even though personally I was hoping it wouldn't be, but it is).

Rylai's Crystal Scepter

This item is usually in contension with boots for 4TH ITEM but usually is 5TH OR 6TH ITEM in my build. Now that you've caped out your CDR, got your Vamp on, and have some sweet damage to go with it, how about we give you more damage to go with your damage; and better yet some HP to make you more sustainable? Sounds great right? Of course thats why you get this item, gives you some of the best AP and HP in one item (I argue is better than RoA and is immediately effective instead of taking time and requiring a rush sine we are already rushing a Seraph's Embrace with Tear of the Goddess), and it has a spell ability to slow, which works with soldiers and makes for a nasty way to keep your enemy in range of being poked by soldiers. This is why you want that + to movement speed, why you want the most bang for your buck in AS, why the vamp is sweet; because when you hold em down with this item, they can run and die, or they can engage you and either you kill them, or you hold em down for your team to group on you and murder the enemy. This is absolutely as core as the rest of his kit since Azir IS NOT a burst champion, and requires AA on enemies to kill.

Seraph's Embrace AKA Archangel's Staff

This item I always start Tear of the Goddess as my 1ST ITEM AFTER STARTING ITEMS, but I do not finish til my 5TH ITEM OR 6TH ITEM. This is because Azir is super item dependent and there are many other items that can be effective immediately and necissary, so its best to complete this item when you have the 750 stacks of MP. The reason this is key and why you get it is simple, it gives you great mana regeneration to aid to your sustain, it synergizes well with the trifecta of perks that is Strength of Spirit , Expanded Mind , and Meditation . It gives you bonus MP so you won't need anything but this for mana regeneration. And best thing about it is that it also amplifies all the MP we've been accruing with Tear of the Goddess/Archangel's Staff and gives us even more AP (63 to be exact with this build which is 123 AP over all, and is almost he equivilant of buying a Death cap with 120 AP but replacing the Death cap passive with a shield which I like more for sustain purposes)! And if that wasn't reason enough, We also get another shield (one from active the other from our E when colliding with an ENEMY CHAMPION emphasized because it doesn't work on jungle creeps or minions) in our arsenal from the active on this item which is reduced by 10% from Intelligence mastery and buffed in strength by Expanded Mind . This item is fantastic in synergy with our Spell Vamp item/mastery and the tankyness of the Rylai's. Basically every piece of this item is amazing for Azir and is another Core Item for this build in particular since the masteries and over all item set cater to its success.

Tips and Tricks

This is done in bots so I can take pictures (which due to the popularity of this guide, if the pictures have that obnoxious "photobucket Image" don't panic, just click on it and it will bring you to the image on photobucket for your viewing, I'm not a fan of paying for a website to host my images for a guide, so sorry guys but it will appear fine every month for a time til you guys burn though the usage for the month haha), because its hard to do that in a PVP game and play at the same time. Also its easier to show these examples.

Positioning, Positioning, Positioning

Spoiler: Click to view

Now while most people willy-nilly place soldiers to kill-kill-kill, but this is a tactical champion we play therefore everything he does should be thought out and strategic. Now the reason I placed my soldiers beside me was for more example sake but the general idea is that you want to place your soldiers always opposite of each other but also on opposite sides of the lane. You still want them to be close enough to where their AA intersect each other, but you want it wide enough to increase the range of their conical damage. You can see this displayed in the image that by placing the soldiers opposite, the AA intersects and not only hits the Trist, but also 4 minions and increases minion clear efficiency.

The Safe Poke, is the Deadliest..

Spoiler: Click to view

Now this is a tactic I like to do sine its utilizing Azir's poke kit in a safe way. Often times you'll run into that player that is going to just sit under turret, camp it and get his CS back up to be a contender. This is a tactic to shut that down and make it costly for a champion to camp turrets. Now while you're soldier won't last forever, it will still get some good licks in before it evaporates. Things to be worried about is ganks from behind from bot lane and river but are remedied by ward placement which you or your team should be doing anyway. This tactic can be used in various ways and over various walls through out the game, but it is one that I do enjoy.

Keep the team's advantage up, and force fights!

Spoiler: Click to view

Now this is a risky tactic but! It can be effective if you're team is winning and is a good team fight team, if you're not any of these than don't do this unless it can be done safely in the jungle and split damage from tank peels. So as you can see I set a soldier next to me, and shoot it under the turret, now unfortunately I went on the one marked in red, but the better option was the one marked blue (I'm taking pics while playing). The reason for this is explained in the 2nd part of this picture that shows the directionality of the Ulti is affected by my placement. Had I gone on the blue square I would have created the blue wall rather than the current wall I made marked in red. As you can see Zilean and Trist are camping turret (which can happen in stalemate games where a team is clearly losing but can at least lock down turrets, drag out teams, and cripple a winning team's momentum to turn the tide). Now usually its a waiting game for who slips up first, but Azir is perfect for this situation in that he can force the fight! By diving in with a W>Q>E combo I set Azir behind Trist and Zilean, and use my ult to push them into a safe attack range for my team with out them needing to take turret hits.

If placed as the blue icon indicates, it also shuts down their escape forcing them to have to walk around it to get through and gives my team time to get kills (if done on a whole team this could be down right devastating). Now I know what you're going to say "But Envy! the whole reason these stalemates happen, is because 1 person has to initiate and take the damage of the turret!" Well this is the awesome part of the build either you will collide with 1 champion on E and get shield which will block a turret shot, and utilizing the Ulti Wall Movement Speed Utility, you can run right out before you even take that 2nd shot, at worse you'll get hit once which is worth a multi kill assist and game winning play. Now if you didn't hit a champion, this is why you also build a Seraph's Embrace, you can pop the active, and get a shield to protect yourself making this a strong play.

Another perk is champs like Trist and Kha'zix will be utterly screwed in this if they try to panic run away right into the Azir wall block.